Our Last Summer Hurrah

When this summer started, it was my goal to get the family to an amusement park.  Wyatt and Julia have never really been to a good amusement park.  We used to belong to a local park that was fun but very small.  The last time the rest of us visited an amusement park was on vacation five years ago.  Julia was two at the time and also went with us, but she has no recollection of that.


I used to jokingly say that wedding vows to my side of the family should include a devotion to amusement parks.  The closest we ever came to taking a vacation when I was a kid was camping near an amusement park where we had season passes.  Mom and Dad were big kids themselves, and we would open and close that park while staying in the campground.  


When Zachary and Savannah were little, we spent at least one day at an amusement park a year.  What changed?  The size of our family and our budget.  We really no longer desired to wear ourselves out on one day of our vacation to visit the nearest amusement park, and our budget no longer allowed for it.  So this was my only goal this summer.  The budget wasn't better, so I planned to pick up a couple of extra days a week at my second job to make this happen.  Then, as you know, tragedy struck at the end of the school year, and I never pursued those extra hours.  I just felt strongly a need to rest this summer.  


I made good on my promise to the kids yesterday.  We had a nice, tiring day, and I hope to return to our annual tradition.  The park we chose was really good.  However, it was also really crowded, and there really wasn't time to do it all.  I think June is a better month for this sort of thing, so hopefully, we will have some better planning this year and be able to make it happen earlier next year.  Julia was our leader as she got a preview of the park when a friend invited her there earlier this summer.  


As expected Zach and Julia will ride just about anything.  Julia declined the biggest coaster but loved the other two.  I love to ride with Julia.  She just laughs and laughs on the rides.  Savannah opened up to more rides and rode everything.  Wyatt hated everything he set foot on.  He wanted to shop.  Really?  Shop in an amusement park?  I have to admit that they had one really cool shop that I actually enjoyed.


The park also has a water park, and I never saw Zach and Savannah during the hours we were there...so much for a "family" time together.  They took off with Austin and Logan, and I don't think I rode a single thing with my big kids.  Teenagers...sigh.


You can probably tell from the pics that I really missed my regular camera.

This was to be our "before" picture on the ride guaranteed to get us wet...only the adults got wet, and the kids - not so much.  This was also probably the only ride that Wyatt sort of enjoyed.

My big mistake....Wyatt and I rode this while waiting for the others to ride a roller coaster.  Sickening for me, and downright terrifying for Wyatt.  He may never recover.

These three, however, loved it.

Wyatt preferred the wave pool.  Other than shopping, he was very content to spend his day right here.

I missed any chance to ride the lazy river, always one of my favorites.

Oh Happiness!

I can't imagine any ride that she would not find to be fun.

good day!

Thumbs up if the day was a good one.  

Today I have back to school with the girls.  We go and drop off their school supplies.  Julia met her teacher and saw who is in class with her this morning.  14 kids and only 5 girls...apparently, there are only 10 girls in the whole second grade!  I don't know what to make of that.  Zach had two years in elementary school where he was one of only a handful of boys in the class.  Those years were pretty miserable for him, and in hindsight, I really wish I had withdrawn him one of those years.  Savannah will get her schedule this afternoon.  She had a less than great year on a social level last year.  I really hope she has some friends in class with her this year.  We have less than a week before Zach, Savannah, Julia and I return to school.  It will be a new location for me, and I have lots to learn. This summer was too short, and the healing is not even close to complete.  So it starts already...sigh.